A few years ago, during a presentation-skills training session, the sales leaders sat in the room and heard what I was teaching. After the first lunch break, the national sales manager walked to the front of the room, looked at his sixty top associates, and said, “At lunch, the executive sales team and I decided we have no idea how we managed to sell anything before we met Patricia.”
As you can imagine, that got everyone’s attention.
He explained, “It takes us a year to earn the opportunity to deliver an hour-long presentation to a small group of executives from one of our prospects. At that point, a new client relationship is worth between five and ten million dollars.”
Naturally, I asked, “How long do you spend rehearsing a presentation that important?”
A Shameful Sales Secret
What I expected Dan to say was something close to the disciplined, professional approach I recommend in my training:
“Patricia, we spend the week in the boardroom. We review the client’s concerns, adjust our script, rehearse repeatedly, record ourselves, analyze every moment, and bring colleagues in to challenge our assumptions.”
Instead, he shrugged and said, “If we have a run-through in the back of Joan’s car before the meeting, we are lucky.”
This is not uncommon. It is also unacceptable.
As Oscar-winning Sir Michael Caine reminds us, “Rehearsal is the work; performance is the relaxation.”
Companies invest enormous time and resources to earn a prospect’s attention. Yet they stop short of preparing the one element that determines whether their investment yields revenue: the quality of their sales presentation.
For twenty-five years, I have worked with executives, engineers, and sales teams across industries. I know what works, and I know the mistakes that derail even the best products, services, and strategies. Most often, those mistakes fall into four areas. Fortunately, the solutions are straightforward and immediately actionable.
Here are four sales secrets that will help you avoid costly mistakes, shorten your sales cycle, and dramatically improve your results.
Sales Suggestion #1: Clear Thinking Leads to Clear Selling
When an executive says, “You have ten minutes to tell me what I need to know,” they are not asking for the history of your company.
They are really asking:
“Can you improve our company? Will your solution solve a problem, create opportunities, increase savings, streamline processes, or strengthen our competitive position?”
At this stage, the prospect is more interested in their world than yours. When your message is crystal clear, you elevate your credibility and increase your chances of earning deeper conversations. Clarity builds trust quickly because clarity demonstrates respect.
Define your premise in one sentence: “Your company will be better off with our company as your solution…because…”
Everything else supports that point.
Sales Suggestion #2: Talk Less, Ask More
The second biggest mistake sales professionals make is talking too much. When you speak at your prospects rather than with them, you lose the opportunity to uncover the very information you need to win.
Your most successful early conversations should consist of well-researched, open-ended questions that require thoughtful answers. Then you must listen—truly listen—to those answers.
Ask deeper questions.
If they want to increase sales, ask:
“By how much?”
“In which market?”
“What prompted this priority?”
If they want to improve morale, ask:
“What signs tell you this is urgent?”
“What has been tried before?”
“What results were achieved?”
Professionals trust advisors who demonstrate curiosity, not those who recite memorized talking points. This is how you transform a transactional encounter into a strategic partnership.
Sales Suggestion #3: Structure Your Message Around the Prospect
Many presentations fail because they are structured around the seller, rather than the buyer.
The “Here is who we are, what we do, and whom we do business with…” approach sounds logical—until you realize that prospects may not care. They care intensely about their challenges, opportunities, and constraints.
Use their words, concerns, metrics, and timeline to structure your presentation.
Your goal is to deliver this message:
“Your company’s condition will be dramatically improved when you do business with us.”
When you speak your prospect’s language, they hear their own priorities reflected back to them. And people do not argue with their own ideas.
Sales Suggestion #4: Your Stories Sell More Than Your Statements
Prospects rarely remember your exact words. They remember the mental pictures your words evoke—especially stories.
Your customer success stories are your most persuasive sales tools. They must be specific, strategic, and memorable.
Recommendation: Use the Situation–Solution–Success Formula
Here is how it works:
Situation:
“When John Smith, their VP of Sales, first called, he said, ‘Help. We heard you are the right partner to help us…’”
Solution:
“Here is what we did…”
Success:
“If John were here, he would tell you, ‘We never imagined we could achieve these results…’”
This approach borrows from Hollywood story structure and the Then–How–Now formula I teach my clients.
It transforms your testimonials into unforgettable third-party endorsements that do the selling for you.
What Happens Once You Apply These Suggestions?
When you adopt these four principles—clarity, questions, customer-focused structure, and strategic stories—you transform how prospects perceive you.
You sound more professional, more credible, and more trustworthy. You position yourself as a strategic partner, not another vendor. Once your structure is correct, you are ready for the level of rehearsal required for high-stakes presentations. As I tell my clients:
Rehearsal is the work. Performance is the relaxation.
If Dan’s team had followed these principles consistently, their “year-long pursuit” presentations would have converted far more often.
Ready to Sell More?
Companies of every size rely on me to help their sales teams design and deliver the high-impact conversations and presentations that drive business.
When you want to sharpen your message, elevate your team’s professionalism, and increase your win rate, FrippVT Sales gives you direct access to proven sales-presentation strategies you can implement immediately.
If you want personal guidance, I would be delighted to help you script, structure, and rehearse your high-value presentations—virtual or in-person.
Your message deserves to be heard.
Your expertise deserves to be trusted.
Your prospects deserve to say yes.
Let’s make your next presentation the most persuasive you have ever delivered.
“In 2018, Patricia Fripp guided our team through a mission-critical sales presentation, which we won. The real story is what happened next. That single presentation has continued to generate extraordinary results. Last year alone, we secured $1.6 million in business from that client. This January, we received an additional $2.8 million order—and the year has barely begun. Patricia’s advice and coaching deliver clarity, confidence, and undeniable ROI.” Michael E. Stryczek, President & CEO, AB&R® (American Barcode and RFID)
Read More...
Start with your audience, not your slides.
